Sunday, June 5, 2011

Question of the Day #951

Someone recently described our current work culture as "The Gig Economy." I hadn't heard the term before but it made a lot of sense to me.

The majority of my career has been based on contract jobs. I used to write for teen magazines, like Seventeen and All About You and at the time, selling a big story would pay for three or four months of life's expenses. Now, I may spend six months developing a training curriculum for one company and then move on to write and facilitate for another company.

I am very much a part of "The Gig Economy." I'll never get a pension, benefits or life insurance through the companies I work for. In return, I don't have to battle in LA freeway warfare and I get to work in my jammies.

4 comments:

Well, I've had many "gigs" in my day, but most of them are traditional jobs with specific locations and benefits. I've been fortunate to get to do a lot of different things, and part of my curious nature means I don't settle for one job over a lifespan. But, I know that I would like to have a cause/gift/passion/service that I could develop and grow over the years and have that be my over-arching profession and life purpose. I'm working on that!

Have worked for the engineering department of the same high-rise office building for almost 39 years. My duties have changed over the years. The company I work for has changed twice. But, so far, I'm still there.

I've been at the same company since college, almost 13 years now and it's been a great ride. I had thought I'd be the Corporate America type forever and I'd retire from this company, but lately due to all the tradeoffs in this scenario, I am thinking the gig thing might be more up my alley. We'll see!